Incident Summary:
05/16/2001: At least six people, including a mother, her infant child, and three police officers, were wounded when a bomb exploded outside of the National Election Board offices in Lima, Lima region, Peru around 10am. The bomb had been left in a backpack outside of the offices, and had detonated after police had picked it up, carried it some distance from the building, and then noticed smoke was coming from the backpack. Conflicting reports emerged regarding the organization responsible for the attack, as pamphlets were supposedly left at the scene claiming that the Shining Path organization was responsible. This claim was refuted by at least one individual, purportedly a Shining Path member named Comrade Juana, when she called into a local radio station. Sources reported damage to the windows and door of a store near the explosion.
Overview
GTD ID:
200105160001
When:
2001-05-16
Country:
Peru
Region:
South America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Lima
City:
Lima
Location Details:
The National Election Board offices in Lima
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Business |
Name of Entity |
Stores in the vicinity |
Specific Description |
At least one store damaged in the explosion |
Nationality of Target |
Peru |
Target Type: Government (General) |
Name of Entity |
National Election Board office |
Specific Description |
The National Election Board office and upcoming elections |
Nationality of Target |
Peru |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Explosives |
Unknown Explosive Type |
Weapon Details |
The sources describe the bomb as being in a backpack, and emitting smoke shortly before it detonated. No other detail was provided. |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | No |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
No |
Additional Information |
The sources conflicted as to the number of people injured in the explosion. Some of the sources said seven people were wounded, but the most current source said six were injured. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
Shining Path (SL) (suspected) |
No |
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
Unknown |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 6 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
Total Number of Injured |
6 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
"Bomb blast in Peru injures seven," Agence France-Presse, May 17, 2001. |
"Bomb explodes near headquarters of Peru's elections board, injuring seven," The Canadian Press, May 16, 2001. |
"Bomb explosion injures six in Peru," Channelnewsasia, May 18, 2001. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties